Moving Forward...end of summer

As the school year creeps e'er closer, I find myself looking back on summer and a little sad that it is ending. Summer, like all good things, has to come to an end at some point and the most important thing is to have the memories to savor. Many summers (for our family) have had amazing memories right near our house but not much travel. This summer, however, was a summer of travel, outings, and so much fun that it was nearly unbearable!
I sort of got nostalgic thinking about the things and people in life that I missed. I'm about to celebrate my thirtieth birthday next month and there are so many things and people in my life that I wish were around. There were people that passed away. There were people that I just lost touch with. There were some that just resulted in ended friendships, etc. There were lost pets, lost items, and so on and so forth. It's not that I'm always sad thinking about all of these things, just wondering what might have been.
The good news is that God has a plan. It may not always be obvious right off the bat. Often times, for me, the next step is obvious but hard for me to make because I want to stay where I'm comfortable. God has a way of getting me out of my comfort zone as soon as I cozy in for a nice long rest. He has a way of changing my heart. For example, I wanted to break my addiction to pop (or for you Southerners, my addiction to Coke). I had tried to do it on my own for years and always ended up right back at square one. Finally I really prayed on it and the very next time I tasted a Pepsi, it tasted AWFUL to me. I didn't even want to drink it again. I still occasionally indulge in pop but I can do with or without it.
God has a way of changing my heart with people too. If there is a person in my life that God does not want there anymore, He has a way of making me look at them differently. He has a way of changing my heart over places so I don't want to be there anymore or visit a particular establishment. He has a way of weighing things on my heart to allow me to move forward into the next step of my life, the next phase of His plan.
Not always are His clues so subtle. There are times that God just has to kick me in the butt and tell me that enough is enough. Sometimes He really has to make me uncomfortable to make me change a particular part of my life. The point is, though, that God always finds a way to make things work the way that His plan indicates.
So as I look back on my summer and I'm sad about the details of its passing, I am thankful for the fond memories that I now hold in my heart and for the amazing blessings that God has given me. I look forward to the next step in God's plan.